With apologies to gifted fellow centre Jack Eichel, Connor McDavid will probably be the first name called at the NHL Entry Draft in Florida in late June — two generational type talents of the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin variety — but

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With apologies to gifted fellow centre Jack Eichel, Connor McDavid will probably be the first name called at the NHL Entry Draft in Florida in late June — two generational type talents of the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin variety — but what about the summer of 2016, when the draft is in Buffalo?

Could it be winger Tyler Benson? He might not go No. 1, but certainly the Edmonton product is Top 5 material.

Benson, who scored 146 points in 33 games for Southside Athletic Club as a bantam two years ago then landed in Kelowna, B.C., to play for the Pursuit of Excellence Academy, where Justin Schultz and Curtis Lazar once toiled in midget-level hockey, is still a first liner with the Western Hockey League’s Vancouver Giants at 16.

Benson will be in the mix in the 2016 draft with Scottsdale, Ariz.-born right-winger Auston Matthews, defenceman Jacob Chychrun, Lloydminster blueliner Kyle Clague of the Brandon Wheat Kings and Seth Jones’s brother Max, who is playing midget in Detroit right now.

Matthews, playing for the U.S. National Development Team out of Ann Arbor, Mich., may have the inside track at going first overall for now.

Scouts will undoubtedly find warts in Benson’s game just as they did with star NHL defenceman Jay Bouwmeester when he was in the WHL and starring at 16, but Benson is a handful at 196 pounds already. Current nursing what could be a shoulder injury, Benson’s been a point-a-game player.

“He reminds so much of Jamie Benn at the same age,” said Craig Button, the TSN commentator, former NHL GM in Calgary and scouting guru.

“Tyler can make plays off the wing or score off the wing, and guys like him are rare. He thinks the game at such a high pace, and that translates when you can make plays, when everything around you is busy.”

“For the most part, Tyler’s been our best player … you don’t like to say that about a 16-year-old, but he’s been that guy,” said Giants general manager Scott Bonner, who’s seen a lot of kids come down the pike in years working in the WHL. “The two best examples would be Evander Kane and Gilbert Brule on our team. They were freaks here, dominant, key players from the start, while Brendan Gallagher was more traditional. He came in, had 10 goals at 16, then 40 goals. What they all had in common was they had to be gritty and they would outwork everybody, and that’s what Tyler does.”

Bonner concedes they’d have been just as happy if they had picked Sherwood Park centre Sam Steel of the Regina Pats, the puck-mover Clague or Winnipeg forward Nolan Patrick (Brandon) in the 2013 bantam draft. Steel is a terrific offensive talent, and Clague is your prototypical offensive D-man..

“The 1998 age group was like the 95s, all good,” said Bonner. “In the ’95 draft, we saw Lazar (Oil Kings), Sam Reinhart (Kootenay Ice), Nic Petan (Portland Winterhawks) … who’s been the best? Who really cares? Everybody is happy.”

The Giants got the first pick and opted for Benson.

“He kills penalties, he leads us in hits, and we have a guy doing Corsi and his puck-possession numbers are the best with those NHL stats,” said Bonner. “He’s more physically mature than most 16-year-olds.”

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins starred in Red Deer at 16, (65 in 67 games) but he weighed about 165 pounds. Gallagher was small in Vancouver, so was Brule at 16. Benson and Kane were bigger.

“Tyler has huge legs and a huge trunk,” said Bonner. “His parents watched Curtis Lazar with the Oil Kings, and I think Lazar suggested that the routine he went through at the P.O.E (Pursuit of Excellence) was pretty strong.

“I wasn’t sure it was a good idea leaving Edmonton minor hockey for B.C., but he’s made gains off the ice through personal training. He’s a lot quicker. He’s not a pretty skater, per se, but he’s quick and powerful.”

The downside to being very good at 16 is you’re under the microscope for two years prior to your draft day. Scouts said Bouwmeester didn’t have a mean bone in his body and hadn’t played any playoff games in junior in Medicine Hat; ergo his leadership may have been in question. Benson will feel the scrutiny too.

“The kids in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, where NHL teams are based, they tend to get scouted more because scouts live in those markets and they use our players, say, as a gauge. They’re overseen at times,” said Bonner.

Tyler Myers’s game in Buffalo has picked up considerably this year because Josh Gorges is mentoring him, but as one pro scout said, “how can a guy playing those minutes (24-1/2 per game) have no points?”

Good question.

Buffalo, with

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Tyler Myers’s game in Buffalo has picked up considerably this year because Josh Gorges is mentoring him, but as one pro scout said, “how can a guy playing those minutes (24-1/2 per game) have no points?”

Good question.

Buffalo, with some good, young defencemen coming, will be holding on to the right-handed shooter for awhile yet to see if Detroit gets more interested in the defenceman.

Dallas would seem a fit, too, because coach Lindy Ruff and his assistant, James Patrick, used to be with the Sabres, but neither the Wings nor the Stars are in dire need of a D-man right now.

The Sabres want six-foot-five winger Anthony Mantha or 2014 first-round forward Dylan Larkin in any package from Detroit for the six-foot-seven Myers.

Mantha, who broke his leg in camp and might have made the team as a teenager (a rarity there) is likely a non-starter. Dallas doesn’t have a high-end kid offensive forward other than Valeri Nichushkin, who’s been hurt. Would they deal him?

University of Alberta Golden Bears coaching legend Clare Drake.

– Clare Drake got a lot more support in the builder category voting for the Hockey Hall of Fame this past June than before but still needs a push to get the 75 per cent needed. What Clare could use is a phalanx of NHL coaches (such as Mike Babcock, Ken Hitchcock, Barry Trotz and Bill Peters) and Ken Dryden, another booster, to be there to make a speech on his behalf, but that’s not the way it works. Only the voting committee of 17 can get him in, and the aforementioned guys aren’t on the committee.

Dallas Stars forward Ales Hemsky.

– Former Oilers winger Ales Hemsky was on the fourth line in Dallas with centre Vern Fiddler last time I looked. He has one assist in nine games and is minus-6. Ryan Garbutt, Erik Cole and/or Colton Sceviour are ahead of him at RW on lines 2 and 3. Meanwhile, centre Sam Gagner is playing left-wing on a third line in Arizona with rookie centre Justin Hodgman and Lauri Korpikoski on right wing.

Chicago Blackhawks centre Brad Richards.

– The Chicago Blackhawks, who hoped free-agent Brad Richards would be their No. 2 centre for a cheap $2 million, are finding out what pretty much everybody thought. Richards, while still a smart player and closing in on 1,000 games, can’t keep up anymore. The Ducks may have the same storyline with winger Dany Heatley. The game’s too fast for them now.

Anaheim Ducks defenceman Sheldon Souray.

– Ducks defenceman Sheldon Souray hasn’t officially retired at 38, but folks think his career is over because of his run of wrist problems which first started 13 years ago in Montreal. Souray, who is on the last year of a three-year, $11 million contract, didn’t play at all last season after tearing a ligament in his wrist in an August 2013 off-season workout.

Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Paul Martin.

– U.S. Olympic defenceman Paul Martin lost his spot on the Pittsburgh Penguins power play to Olli Maatta and second PP time as well, which makes you wonder if the Penguins will bother to resign him this summer or deal him before he becomes an unrestricted free agent again.

Boston Bruins forward Chris Kelly.

– Has anybody noticed that Patrice Bergeron, one of the game’s best two-way players, is being outscored by fellow forward Chris Kelly in Boston through their first 11 games and he’s a minus player? Of course, their defence is decimated — Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug, and Kevan Miller are all hurt, and Johnny Boychuk was traded — which doesn’t help anybody in the plus/minus ratio.

Anaheim Ducks defenceman Ben Lovejoy.

– Ben Lovejoy (six NHL fights) is a better scrapper than Joe Pavelski (four fights), with Lovejoy winning handily over Little Joe recently, but busting a finger on his right hand makes none of it worthwhile for the 18-minute-a-game partner for Cam Fowler in Anaheim. Pavelski lost to bantamweight Kris Russell before Lovejoy, so Joe certainly knows fistic stuff is way out of his tool box.

The New York Rangers’ Chris Kreider.

– The NHL’s Player Safety group dropped the ball, letting Chris Kreider off with nary a fine or suspension for pitching Jonas Brodin face-first into the boards. That’s how you break a neck. “Pretty much like being in a car crash,” said Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo. Meanwhile, New York Rangers defenceman John Moore needs some major remedial video work on head hits after two (Dale Weise and Erik Haula) since May that got him seven suspended games. He reached out to say sorry to Haula, which he appreciated, but he’s getting a rep as a headhunter

Carolina Hurricanes forward Alex Semin.

– Is there a less-involved, seldom-get-it-out-of-first-gear NHLer these days than Alex Semin in Carolina? “Can’t think of one,” said a veteran NHL pro scout. Semin gives you the smallest bang for the buck ($7 million per, with three years left after this season) in hockey, and his coach Peters finally saw enough in Vancouver and strapped him to the bench.

Buffalo Sabres forward Cody Hodgson.

– Cody Hodgson, when asked if he was mad that he’d been demoted to fourth-line on the most anemic NHL team in about 80 years: “No,” he said. “I’m just trying to help the team.” How about some emotion? He could help them more if he played like a $4.25-million cap hit guy who is in the second year of a six-year, $25.5 million deal. Of course, so could Matt Moulson, Chris Stewart and Drew Stafford, all who have yet to score a goal.

Arizona Coyotes prospect Henrik Samuelsson.

– The Montreal Canadiens were all over former Edmonton Oil Kings first-line centre Henrik Samuelsson in his draft year — they badly wanted him — but the Arizona Coyotes, who had his dad Ulf as an associate coach, got to him one pick earlier in 2012. Samuelsson is now playing in the American Hockey League.

Buffalo Sabres forward Sam Reinhart.

– If the Sabres send No. 2 overall draft pick Sam Reinhart back to Kootenay Ice because he’s not strong enough, there’s a good chance the centre may move to wing and play with Connor McDavid on Canada’s world junior team. They were on the same line at the world under-18s. Sabres owner Terry Pegula, knowing his team’s in the running for McDavid in next June’s draft, paid a bundle to Erie Otters owner Sherry Bassin to have the junior squad play six games in Buffalo this season. They drew 11,000 for the first of those games.

Edmonton Oilers forward Louie DeBrusk in October 1996.

– Louie DeBrusk’s winger son Jake is fifth in scoring in the Western Hockey League, playing for coach Mark Lamb in Swift Current. “It’s a deep draft, but he could be a late first-rounder. I know he’s got better hands than his dad,” said a veteran amateur scout. Not as tough though as the old man. “Uh, no,” laughed the scout. Louie was a third-round draft pick of the Rangers. “I hope Jake goes higher than me,” said father Debrusk, a Sportsnet hockey commentator and a former Oilers enforcer. Frank Musil’s son, Adam, playing centre in Red Deer but who looks like he could probably become an NHL power winger, could go in the top 30 next June, too.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/10/31/hockey-world-short-shifts-tyler-myers-stands-tall-again-for-buffalo-sabres/feed/0457655830tylermyersnhlbymattyUniversity of Alberta Golden Bears coaching legend Clare Drake.Dallas Stars forward Ales Hemsky.Chicago Blackhawks centre Brad Richards.Anaheim Ducks defenceman Sheldon Souray.Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Paul Martin.Boston Bruins forward Chris Kelly.Anaheim Ducks defenceman Ben Lovejoy.The New York Rangers' Chris Kreider.Carolina Hurricanes forward Alex Semin.Buffalo Sabres forward Cody Hodgson.Arizona Coyotes prospect Henrik Samuelsson.Buffalo Sabres forward Sam Reinhart.Edmonton Oilers forward Louie DeBrusk in October 1996.Edmonton Oil Kings set to raise curtain — and two new banners! — on 2014-15 WHL seasonhttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/09/20/edmonton-oil-kings-set-to-raise-curtain-and-two-new-banners-on-2014-15-whl-season/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/09/20/edmonton-oil-kings-set-to-raise-curtain-and-two-new-banners-on-2014-15-whl-season/#commentsSat, 20 Sep 2014 16:30:21 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=207274The Edmonton Oil Kings take to the ice at Rexall Place tonight to kick off the 2014-15 season against their old rivals the Kootenay Ice. Game time is 7 p.m., and this is one game fans will want to arrive …]]>The Edmonton Oil Kings take to the ice at Rexall Place tonight to kick off the 2014-15 season against their old rivals the Kootenay Ice. Game time is 7 p.m., and this is one game fans will want to arrive on time, as proceedings will kick off with a double banner-raising. For the first time, a Memorial Cup banner and Western Hockey League championship banner will be raised in tandem.

That’s because the Dub didn’t even exist back when Al Hamilton’s Oil Kings beat Bobby Orr’s Oshawa Generals to win their last national title back in 1966. The junior loop got its own start that fall.

A lot of water has gone under the High Level Bridge from that day to this. The original Oil Kings continued to be a strong team in the league’s early years, but after the professional game came to town in the the form of the World Hockey Association’s Oilers, things got tough. Eventually the franchise was shifted to Portland, where the Winterhawks have continued the tradition of being a league powerhouse. In the 1990s, a comeback was attempted with the expansion Edmonton Ice at the hopelessly inadequate Agricom, but that effort failed after a few years and the Ice moved on as well, to Cranbrook (a.k.a. Kootenay). The team returned with its original name and colours in 2007 as an expansion team, and quickly developed into a league powerhouse.

Both the Winterhawks (1983, 1998) and Ice (2002) have raised Memorial Cup banners of their own in the interval since one was last celebrated in this city.

Perhaps it’s fitting that the Oil Kings beat Portland in a pulsating league final last year, and will face the Ice for tonight’s lid-lifter.

These are heady times for amateur hockey in Good Old Ourtown. Last season marked a double championship for our fair city as the University of Alberta Golden Bears also copped the University Cup for the 14th time in its 52 years of existence. (Like the Oil Kings, the team itself predates its own league with a history that dates back over a century.)

Yesterday coaches and players of both Oil Kings and Golden Bears attended a media conference at Rexall Place. The connection between the two leagues is a strong one, as almost 75% of all players in the CIS’ Canada West conference are graduates of the WHL. The Golden Bears had 20 such players in their powerhouse line-up last spring, including four former Oil Kings.

It’s a solid relationship. The WHL produces plenty of quality hockey players, but there are nowhere near enough spaces in pro hockey to accommodate them. Many players move on to university, where they can continue to play high level hockey while taking advantage of the WHL Scholarship program that sees them receive one year of financial support towards their education for every season they played in the Dub.

WHL president Ron Robison spoke of the league’s commitment to education, which has seen some $19 million invested in close to 4000 scholarships since the program was introduced in 1993. In the 2013-14 season, league statistics say that 328 WHL graduates attended 83 different post-secondary institutions. A further 100+ active WHLers were enrolled in post-secondary schools while playing major junior.

For the Oil Kings as a team, the massive challenge facing them is to remain contenders despite the graduations of many of their top players. Captain Griffin Reinhart, Henrik Samuelsson and Mitch Moroz have all turned pro this fall, and may well be joined by Curtis Lazar who is expected to make a strong bid to make Ottawa Senators at 19. Another high draft pick, goaltender Tristan Jarry, is away at Pittsburgh Penguins camp, and while he is expected to return eventually, he won’t be available tonight. Same goes for a number of other Oil Kings that were drafted in later rounds by other teams.

Former Oil Kings head coach Derek Laxdal has also graduated to pro ranks, and his assistant Steve Hamilton (son of Al) has taken over the helm. Hamilton spoke candidly of the challenges facing the team but refused to put limitations on the upside. He reminded those in attendance that if one had projected the Oil Kings one year ago, a time in which they also lost many fine players to graduation, that the words “potential Memorial Cup champions” wouldn’t have been on many lips.

GM Randy Hansch has been hard at work filling the holes, though it seems probable that the team will take a step back while it reloads. There should be enough talent and continuity in the system to provide another playoff contender in the WHL’s East Division, but the cycles of junior hockey are such that it’s almost impossible to maintain a contender on an every-year basis. The Oil Kings did remarkably well by making the league final three years running, and winning it twice.

Meanwhile, over at the University of Alberta, there is zero concern that the Golden Bears won’t continue to be a powerhouse, as they’ve been for the last century. That program has its own cycles as players graduate the program after four or five years, but there is significantly more continuity from year to year plus a reliable pipeline of WHL talent to feed the system. (A fifth former Oil King, Riley Kieser, joins the club this season.) Head coach Ian Herbers and his crew will have a banner-raising celebration of their own on October 3 when they host the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns at Clare Drake Arena.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/09/20/edmonton-oil-kings-set-to-raise-curtain-and-two-new-banners-on-2014-15-whl-season/feed/0OilKingsbannersbrucemccurdyrsz_1oilkingsbannersThe Edmonton Oilers’ rookie head coach sounds completely ready for the job aheadNext on Oil Kings’ to-do list: Road winhttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/09/next-on-oil-kings-to-do-list-road-win/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/09/next-on-oil-kings-to-do-list-road-win/#commentsFri, 09 May 2014 20:02:13 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=199597What the Edmonton Oil Kings have done in their last two games can’t be understated.

Their two wins — a 3-2 comeback in Game 3 on Tuesday and a 2-0 shutout in Game 4 on Wednesday — saved their season …

]]>What the Edmonton Oil Kings have done in their last two games can’t be understated.

Their two wins — a 3-2 comeback in Game 3 on Tuesday and a 2-0 shutout in Game 4 on Wednesday — saved their season and completely changed the direction that the Portland Winterhawks had set the series on in the first two games of the WHL final.

I wrote in Friday’s Journal about all of the things that the Oil Kings managed to turn around and there really can’t be enough said about how drastic the change has been with this team this week. As impressive as zeroing in on all of those wrongs and righting them has been, there’s still one must-do thing for the Oil Kings. If they’re going to win their second Ed Chynoweth Cup in three years, they’re going to have to win a game in this series in Portland.

So far, both teams have been perfect at home in this series. Beyond that, they’ve both been spotless at home in the playoffs. The Winterhawks are 9-0, while Edmonton is now 10-0. The Oil Kings k now that blemishing that record won’t be an easy thing. Steal was the most common word that was attached to the possibility of the visiting team winning tonight.

“We knew we had better when we left and we showed it when we went back home,” Edmonton third-line centre Riley Kieser said. “Coming back we know we have to steal a game here and we’re prepared to do that tonight.”

And to do that?

“Especially with that crowd (after two games in Portland) everyone is a little more familiar with it,” Kieser said. “Myself, being my first game I was a little overwhelmed, but now I think everyone’s prepared to come in and make that extra effort and have that sacrifice that it’s going to take and be prepared to win.”

“Obviously the crowd is going to be a huge factor in this game,” coach Derek Laxdal said. “Portland really feeds off of that crowd and for us it’s going to be patience and status quo.

“We have to go about our game plan the same way we did in Games 3 and 4. To be honest with you, I thought we did a lot of great things, five-on-five in the first two games. We just got behind the eight ball, chasing the game. For us it’s kind of trying to compile all of the good things we’ve done in this series and bringing it tonight.”

With Tristan Jarry having settled into his first championship series and rediscovering his form in a 26-save shutout in Game 4, the confidence that the team was lacking in the first two games of the series is beaming from the goalie on out. Jarry hasn’t let a goal in since 3:30 of the first period in Game 3, giving the Pittsburgh Penguins prospect a shutout streak of 116:30.

Laxdal said he’s seen no change in his starting goalie in the pair of wins.

“Been the same. That’s Tristan Jarry,” he said. “He can give up a goal, he can have a shutout, he’s the same person. That’s what’s special about him, He goes about his business, he’s very even keel, he’s very focused, he’s very level-headed. That’s a strength of his and he’s definitely going to need that moving on his career.”

Tonight it’s about moving over one big hurdle and conquering the Winterhawks and their near 11,000 backers.

“We’ve had a good home record all year, won a lot of games in that building so we’re pretty comfortable, but we knew coming into this series you have to win at least one on the road,” captain Griffin Reinhart said. “Our mindset going into this game is hopefully (we win) tonight.”

The puck drops at 8 p.m. MT on Shaw TV and airing on TSN 1260.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/09/next-on-oil-kings-to-do-list-road-win/feed/0MorozolearychrisBe like Sammy: Oil Kings coach wants players to follow Samuelsson’s lead for Game 3http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/06/be-like-sammy-oil-kings-coach-wants-players-to-follow-samuelssons-lead-for-game-3/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/06/be-like-sammy-oil-kings-coach-wants-players-to-follow-samuelssons-lead-for-game-3/#commentsTue, 06 May 2014 18:39:38 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=199390When his teammates were all clicking in unison, running their way to the WHL’s Eastern Conference championship the last few weeks, Henrik Samuelsson was in a hockey no-man’s land. Now, with the Edmonton Oil Kings trailing the Portland Winterhawks 2-0 …]]>When his teammates were all clicking in unison, running their way to the WHL’s Eastern Conference championship the last few weeks, Henrik Samuelsson was in a hockey no-man’s land. Now, with the Edmonton Oil Kings trailing the Portland Winterhawks 2-0 in the WHL final, Samuelsson has his game going, but is still on his own.

The Oil Kings’ centre scored 68 goals over the last two years in Edmonton, but had just two goals in 14 playoff games this year. Just about one of the only good things to come out of the weekend set of games in Portland for the Oil Kings was that Samuelsson has managed to get his game on track. He’s doubled his playoff scoring, sticking a goal in each game so far, including his team’s only marker on the power play. He’s also been a physical presence and for the most part — save for a double-spearing minor at the end of Game 1 — has avoided reactionary plays that would land him in the penalty box.

The hope for tonight’s Game 3 (7 p.m. at Rexall Place and on Shaw TV and TSN 1260) is that his linemates and teammates follow suit.

“He’s taken a step up in his game. I thought he was our best forward in Game 2,” Oil Kings head coach Derek Laxdal said of Samuelsson.

“We need some of our other top forwards to step up tonight. Obviously Reid Petryk’s only got five or six points in the playoffs and he needs to take a step tonight, Mitch Moroz doesn’t have a point in the last six games, so he needs to take a step and even Curtis Lazar. He’s the heartbeat of our hockey club. He needs to match the intensity of Henrik Samuelsson. These players know that; we’re not calling them out, they know what they have to do and we’re going to have to have everybody on board tonight.”

Samuelsson would have liked to have contributed more earlier in the playoffs, but he’s happy to be finally be getting into his game now.

“I feel like I’m playing a little better,” he said. “I haven’t played my best hockey throughout these playoffs but it’s good that I’m playing better now when it matters the most. Hopefully some of the other guys can step it up a little bit and I can step it up too.”

Down a pair of games to a powerful Winterhawks team, Laxdal and Samuelsson said that a good first period is the crucial component to avoiding falling behind 0-3 in this series.

“We’ve had pretty slow starts throughout this series. If we have a quick start and play hard through the first 20 minutes, I think we’ll have a good chance tonight,” Samuelsson said.

“It has to be that band of brothers approach,” Laxdal said. “It’s not going to be one player. It’s not going to be Tristan Jarry, it’s not going to be Henrik Samuelsson.

“It has to be 20 guys believing in the same direction tonight and that was the message in the meeting this morning: We have to make sure we step up. We’re not going to win the game in the first minute, we’re not going to lose the game in the first minute. Go out and play and get your feet wet.

“Don’t just dip your toes in. Jump right in.”

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/06/be-like-sammy-oil-kings-coach-wants-players-to-follow-samuelssons-lead-for-game-3/feed/0SamuelssonolearychrisThis ‘n’ that: Are Philadelphia Flyers considering buying out Vincent Lecavalier?http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/04/this-n-that-8/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/04/this-n-that-8/#commentsMon, 05 May 2014 05:36:04 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=199271– Can Vincent Lecavalier be a buyout victim in Philadelphia? The Tampa Bay Lightning used a compensatory buyout (which doesn’t count against the salary cap). Now, one year into a five-year, $22.5-million package with the Flyers, he’s reduced to playing …]]>– Can Vincent Lecavalier be a buyout victim in Philadelphia? The Tampa Bay Lightning used a compensatory buyout (which doesn’t count against the salary cap). Now, one year into a five-year, $22.5-million package with the Flyers, he’s reduced to playing eight minutes and 45 seconds (10 shifts, only four minutes and change over the last 40 minutes) in the biggest game of the season for Philadelphia — Game 7 vs. the New York Rangers. A fourth-line centre making $6 million this season and next? The Flyers used their two allowed “get-of-jail cards” on goalie Ilya Bryzgalov and forward Danny Briere last year.

– Interesting that Western Hockey League coach Don Hay has left the Vancouver Giants for the Kamloops Blazers, maybe a deal that started percolating because Scott Bonner is the Giants general manager and his brother, Craig, is GM of the Blazers. The Giants, who will be bidding for the Memorial Cup in two years, will not be hiring a first-time junior head coach, says owner Ron Toigo, which puts Oil Kings Steve Hamilton out of the running, even though he deserves it. Maybe they’d look at Perry Pearn, who coached in Medicine Hat years back.

– The Phoenix Coyotes made a trade pitch for Ales Hemsky at the trade deadline and will also pursue him on July 1, when he’s a free agent. Ideally, they’d like to see Hemsky on the wing with Czech Rebublic countryman Radim Vrbata and Mike Ribeiro, but Ribeiro was a big disappointment in his second Phoenix season.

– The Detroit Red Wings won’t buy out winger Johan Franzen, even though he’s an exasperating big-man talent (red-hot or a non-factor). The Mule has a nice salary-cap hit number of $3.9 million for the next six years. The Wings would consider moving him for a top four D-man, though. Detroit badly needs a right-shooting blue-liner. Dallas and Detroit are the only NHL clubs with all left-handed shooting defencemen.

– I’m hearing SportsNet’s R.J. Broadhead could get the Calgary Flames’ TV job with play-by-play man Rob Kerr not coming back, along with sidekick Charlie Simmer, on Calgary’s broadcasts. Will Peter Loubardias get Peter Maher’s radio gig after the Hall of Famer just retired? He should.

– R.J. Umberger was a warrior in the playoffs, gutting it out to play with a separated shoulder, herniated back disc and busted finger, and diving in front of slapshots, but his role with the Columbus Blue Jackets wasn’t very big this season. There’s a feeling the assistant captain doesn’t have the requisite foot speed any longer. He’s almost surely available, but at a $4.6-million cap hit for the next three seasons, he’s a tough sell unless the Jackets eat some of his salary in a trade or they use a compliance buyout on him. One thing to consider: he was signed by current Oilers senior vice-president of hockey operations, Scott Howson, in Columbus.

– The Wings, in an injury spiral, dealt for David Legwand at the deadline, giving up one of their best prospects, centre Calle Jarnkrok. But it’ll be a one-and-done for the unrestricted free agent centre, who wound up playing on Detroit’s fourth line in the playoffs. The Wings have Stephen Weiss at centre next season (Year 2 of a five-year deal) after his first Detroit season was a total writeoff because of groin issues. He played only 26 games. The Wings won’t be bringing back Dan Cleary and Todd Bertuzzi, either.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/04/this-n-that-8/feed/0Philadelphia Flyers v New York Rangers - Game SevennhlbymattyMitch Moroz and the Oil Kings look to bounce back in Game 2http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/04/mitch-moroz-and-the-oil-kings-look-to-bounce-back-in-game-2/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/04/mitch-moroz-and-the-oil-kings-look-to-bounce-back-in-game-2/#commentsSun, 04 May 2014 19:28:27 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=199249Mitch Moroz expects to play in Game 2 of the WHL final tonight in Portland, but the Edmonton Oil Kings forward might be doing so in pain.

Moroz took a scary looking spill in the second period of Game 1 …

]]>Mitch Moroz expects to play in Game 2 of the WHL final tonight in Portland, but the Edmonton Oil Kings forward might be doing so in pain.

Moroz took a scary looking spill in the second period of Game 1 against the Winterhawks on Saturday night, requiring help to get back to the Oil Kings’ dressing room. He and Edmonton head coach Derek Laxdal had no issue with the play, where Moroz and Portland centre Adam De Champlain collided, but the veteran winger could be nagged by the aftereffects from the play tonight as Edmonton tries to even the series up.

Moroz missed the rest of the second period, but hit the ice as players were leaving it at the intermission to test out his leg. He played the third period and was active.

“It was a harmless play. I just came down on my leg a little awkwardly,” Moroz said on Sunday morning. “But Cheese (head athletic therapist Brian Cheeseman) looked after me good and I was able to finish the game. I’ll be back in tonight.”

“He’s got a lower body injury and I think it’s something he can play through,” Laxdal said of Moroz. “He’s getting treatment this morning and obviously it wasn’t a dirty hit or anything like that. I think he just fell wrong on the ice and it looks like he’ll be ready to go tonight.”

Asked if he was hurting this morning, Moroz smiled.

“I should be all right here. It’s playoff time and you’ve got to grind through some stuff.”

Couple the Oil Kings’ 5-2 Game 1 loss with the injury and it was not the way that Moroz wanted to ring in his 20th birthday. The Oil Kings didn’t skate on Sunday morning, so Laxdal said they’d give Moroz one last look in warm-ups. By all indications, the feeling was that Moroz will suit up tonight. The rest of his players, Laxdal said, came out of Game 1 in good shape. This in spite of the team making efforts to keep eyes away from who was getting treatment at the Moda Center this morning.

“Physically I think we did all right,” Laxdal said. “There’s going to be bumps and bruises and it’s a battle out there.

“I would have liked to have seen a few more ice bags on our guys, because that means we’re battling a little harder. But I think we learned a bit of a lesson about the Portland Winterhawks.

“They’re a very good hockey club and not only do they have great offensive skills they defend well and they (present) a lot of pressure. It’s something we prepared for but until you’re actually experiencing it, it doesn’t really sink in. It sank in last night and I expect our guys to be better tonight.”

Other than bumps and bruises, what lingered for the Oil Kings was missed opportunities on the power play in Game 1. Edmonton had three chances to strike in the first period, with Portland getting whistled at the 11-second mark, then again at 6:07 and again at 10:39. They went 0-4 on the night and played much of the final 2:30 of the game with their net empty. Portland didn’t put on a power-play clinic in Game 1 either, but they were the better team in that area on Saturday. Matt Dumba’s four-on-three slapshot late in the second period made it a 4-2 game and sunk the Oil Kings.

“We’ve got to score on our power play. We see some things on their penalty kill that we think we can exploit and our guys have to be able to put those plays in place on the ice,” Laxdal said. “That’s something we’ll focus on tonight in our meeting. But when you get down 3-0 to Portland in the first period it’s a battle back.”

The puck drops in Game 2 at 6 p.m. MT, with the game airing on Shaw TV and TSN 1260.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/04/mitch-moroz-and-the-oil-kings-look-to-bounce-back-in-game-2/feed/0olearychrisPollock, Keiser two Oil Kings enjoying their first WHL finalhttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/03/pollock-keiser-two-oil-kings-enjoying-their-first-whl-final/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/03/pollock-keiser-two-oil-kings-enjoying-their-first-whl-final/#commentsSat, 03 May 2014 21:35:49 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=199244The majority of the talk leading into Game 1 of tonight’s WHL final has focused on the Edmonton Oil Kings and Portland Winterhawks meeting for the third time in as many years. And while your attention might gravitate toward …]]>The majority of the talk leading into Game 1 of tonight’s WHL final has focused on the Edmonton Oil Kings and Portland Winterhawks meeting for the third time in as many years. And while your attention might gravitate toward the names you’ve read about and followed over the last three years — Curtis Lazar, Griffin Reinhart, Mitch Moroz, etc. — there’s a score of fresh-faced players in this series, getting their first taste of championship-level junior hockey.

Through a combination of arriving in the past year or sitting out as scratches in years past, or serving as backups, there are 14 Oil Kings who will get their first taste of the finals when the puck drops tonight at 8 p.m. MT in Portland.

Oil Kings centre Brett Pollock played in 40 games last year, but sat out the playoffs as a 16-year-old. After sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with media last year in the finals, watching his team lose in six games to the Winterhawks, Pollock began to grow up as a player this season. A key to the Oil Kings’ run through the Eastern Conference this year (17 points in 14 games), he’s ready to try to bring Edmonton its second WHL title in three years.

“It’s amazing,” he said of being able to contribute this year. “We started off kind of rough and a lot of teams and people across the league didn’t think we’d be the team that we were last year. But we’ve earned this and we’ve worked very hard all year. It’s an amazing feeling being here, and we’re definitely looking forward to having the rivalry again.”

Going into this year’s playoffs, 21-year-old centre Riley Kieser had all of six playoff games to his name. A point-a-game player in this year’s postseason, he said there will still be some nerves for him when this series finally gets going.

“It’s a big time of the year but I think as soon as you get that first shift underway you kind of settle down and get into that normal role and a normal game,” he said.

Having joined the Oil Kings in a July trade last year, Kieser said he knew he had a good shot at ending his junior career on a high note.

“They have a great history and they were coming off two 50-win seasons so the guys know how to win,” he said. “Coming in here I knew that they have a good record in the postseason, so it was a good shot at coming in and making a successful transition.”

While Kieser is an elder on the team in terms of age and mileage in the WHL, he and Pollock have listened to the likes of Reinhart, Lazar and Moroz this week on how to handle the pressure of playing on an elevated stage for the first time.

“It’s kind of a whirlwind experience,” Pollock said of the advice he’s been given. “There are a lot of ups and downs and you have to control your emotions. There’s going to be adversity and you’ll have to fight through it.”

One-timers: Oil Kings players without in-game WHL finals experience

– C Brett Pollock

– C Riley Kieser

– LW Brandon Ralph

– C Reid Petryk

– LW MadsEller

– LW Tyler Robertson

– C Lane Bauer

– RW Mitchell Walter

– D Aaron Irving

– D Jesse Mills

– D Blake Orban

– D Ben Carroll

– G Tyler Santos

– G Tristan Jarry

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/03/pollock-keiser-two-oil-kings-enjoying-their-first-whl-final/feed/0Pollockolearychris2014 WHL bantam draft trackerhttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/01/2014-whl-bantam-draft-tracker/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/01/2014-whl-bantam-draft-tracker/#commentsThu, 01 May 2014 16:49:01 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=199054Centres were the rage of the Western Hockey League bantam draft first round on Thursday, May 1, 2014, with 10 pivots being chosen among the 21 selections made — including first-overall pick Stelio Mattheos of the Winnipeg Monarchs, taken by …]]>Centres were the rage of the Western Hockey League bantam draft first round on Thursday, May 1, 2014, with 10 pivots being chosen among the 21 selections made — including first-overall pick Stelio Mattheos of the Winnipeg Monarchs, taken by the Brandon Wheat Kings with a pick they acquired last year from the Saskatoon Blades.

Defencemen were claimed eight times in the first round, goalies and wingers twice.

Of Edmonton and area interest, the Medicine Hat Tigers took Edmonton South Side Athletic Club centre James Hamblin 17th overall, while the Oil Kings selected Lloydminster winger Kobe Mohr with the 20th pick.

The 5-foot-8, 135 lb. Hamblin averaged about two points a game for the SSAC bantam AAA squad, scoring 32 goals and 30 assists in 31 games.

Mohr, who stands 5-foot-9, 159 lb., racked up 63 points (29 goals, 34 assists) in 29 games as well as 125 penalty minutes for the Lloydminster Universal Heat, this season’s Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League champion.

Round 1

#

Team

Name

Hometown

Bantam

1

Brandon

Stelio Mattheos, C

Winnipeg

Monarchs

2

Lethbridge

J. Bellerive, C

N. Vancouver

NSWC

3

Kamloops

Nolan Kneen, D

N. Vancouver

NSWC

4

Moose Jaw

Josh Brook, D

Roblin, Man.

Notre Dame

5

Pr. George

J. Almeida, C

N. Vancouver

NSWC

6

Red Deer

J. Leschyshyn, C

Grasswood, Sask.

Stallions

7

Tri-City

M. Rasmussen, C

Surrey, B.C.

Okanagan

8

Vancouver

Dawson Holt, C

Saskatoon

Generals

9

Pr. Albert

Ian Scott, G

Calgary

Northstars

10

Vancouver

B. Semchuk, C

Kamloops, B.C.

Kamloops

11

Kootenay

G. Mendel, D

Kelowna, B.C.

Okanagan

12

S. Current

D. Schmiemann, D

J. River Bridge

Notre Dame

13

Regina

Jordan Hollett, G

Langley, B.C.

Okanagan

14

Spokane

And’son-Dolan, C

Calgary

Edge Bant

15

Everett

Jantzen Leslie, D

Lloydminster

Lloyd

16

Seattle

Jarret Tyszka, D

Langley, B.C.

Langley

17

Med Hat

James Hamblin, C

Edmonton

SSAC

18

Victoria

Scott Walford, D

Coquitlam, B.C.

Okanagan

19

Portland

Cody Glass, C

Winnipeg

Hawks

20

Kobe Mohr, LW

Lloydminster

Lloyd

21

Portland

Pass

22

Kelowna

J. Smart, D

Kelowna, B.C.

Okanagan

—

Round 2 saw six Edmonton-area players taken, three of them from the Spruce Grove PAC Saints, two from Edmonton SSAC and one from the Sherwood Park United Cycle Flyers.

– Josh Patterson, a left-winger for the SSAC Southgate Lions this past season, brings size to the Saskatoon Blades camp, standing 6-foot-2, 177 lb. He led the AMBHL in scoring in 2013-14, with 97 points (46 goals, 51 assists) in 33 games played.

– Second-year PAC Saints defenceman Marcus Kichton, taken 26th overall by the Moose Jaw Warriors, put up 36 points (6 goals, 30 points) in 31 games in 2013-14 after putting up nine points in 29 games last season.

– The Vancouver Giants took AMBHL North Division defenceman of the year Dylan Plouffe with the 29th overall pick. The Sherwood Park Flyers product led all AMBHL blueliners in goals (22) this past season, finishing second in points with 58, two behind Ty Smith of the Lloydminster Universal Heat.

– Ryan Peckford’s rights belong to the Victoria Royals, who took the 5-foot-10, 170 lb. centre with the 31st overall pick. The Stony Plain native scored 60 points, including 28 goals, in 33 games. Peckford played five games for the PAC Saints last season, spending the majority of 2012-13 with Stony Plain bantam AA.

– The Wheat Kings picked up defenceman Ian Mitchell of Calahoo, another member of the high-flying PAC Saints, who placed third in the AMBHL in team goals scored. Mitchell was a part of that, with four goals and 21 points in 24 games played.

– Edmonton’s Matthew Wedman, a 6-foot, 165 lb. left-winger with SSAC, was taken by the Seattle Thunderbirds with the 38th overall pick. He was the Lions’ second-leading scorer after Patterson, with 72 points (32 goals, 40 assists) in 33 games played.

– Zane Franklin of the Universal Heat, who finished second in league scoring to Patterson with 47 goals and 42 assists for 89 points, was picked up with the second-last pick of the second round, 43rd overall, by the Lethbridge Hurricanes. The Marwayne, Alta., native scored AMBHL North Division MVP honours this past season.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/01/2014-whl-bantam-draft-tracker/feed/0WHL logocellingsonShort shifts: Nathan MacKinnon really delivering in playoffs for Colorado Avalanchehttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/04/20/short-shifts-nathan-mackinnon-really-delivering-in-playoffs-for-colorado-avalanche/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/04/20/short-shifts-nathan-mackinnon-really-delivering-in-playoffs-for-colorado-avalanche/#commentsMon, 21 Apr 2014 01:30:55 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=198204– One longtime NHL Western Conference scout says Connor McDavid is better as a junior than last year’s first-overall draft pick Nathan MacKinnon was, which boggles the mind, Doubtful McDavid will do what MacKinnon’s done his first two playoff games …]]>– One longtime NHL Western Conference scout says Connor McDavid is better as a junior than last year’s first-overall draft pick Nathan MacKinnon was, which boggles the mind, Doubtful McDavid will do what MacKinnon’s done his first two playoff games with seven points for the Colorado Avalanche, though. As Roberto Luongo’s alter-ago strombone1 tweeted, he’s in “arcade mode.” The Edmonton Oilers scored only four goals in their first two playoff tilts against Philly in 1980, so we know the greatest post-season scorer of them all, Wayne Gretzky, started slower than MacKinnon, who plays every shift like he’s shot out of a cannon.

– So let me get this straight: a coach, Joel Quenneville, grabs at his crotch on the bench because he’s angered by the refereeing and gets fined $25,000, and Milan Lucic intentionally spears Danny DeKeyser in the crotch, trying to turn him into a soprano and gets a $5,000 wrist slap. I don’t get it.

– The Avalanche are paying a truckload to their forwards, but their six defencemen against Minnesota added up to a paltry $10 million if you’re into capgeek.com gazing. To put that into perspective, Wild defenceman Ryan Suter’s salary this season is $12 million. Erik Johnson is the top dog in Colorado at $3.75 million, with ex-Oilers blueliner Jan Hejda next at $3.25 million. After them, there’s Tyson Barrie, who slid and bowled over two players on Paul Stastny’s winning OT goal in Game 1 (Matt Cooke and Kyle Brodziak) and Andre Benoit at $900,000 each. St. Albert’s Nick Holden and Nate Guenin make a shade more than the NHL minimum at $600,000. Barrie, a second-round draft, has come on gangbusters late in the season and is due a major bump in salary this summer. “Every team in the league is looking for defencemen like Barrie now,” said one longtime amateur scout.

– Soon-due-to-be unrestricted free agent centre Stastny has scored seven points in the first two games in his team’s series against the Wild, but I don’t know how they fit him into their pay grid next season unless he takes a pay-cut to around $5 million per for, say, five years. He makes $6.6 million now, but that was when he was a 70-80 point player. Now he’s scoring 60 points. The Avs also have Matt Duchene (out for the first round with a knee sprain) at $6 million next season and Ryan O’Reilly coming up for renewal at $5 million. The Avs have the deepest centre corps in the NHL: Stastny, Duchene, O’Rellly, MacKinnon, Max Talbot and John Mitchell (concussion). It’s so deep, O’Reilly and MacKinnon have played on the wing.

– Just spitballing, but Perry Pearn, who got ousted in the coaching purge with Claude Noel in Winnipeg, would be perfect as coach of the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, wouldn’t he? Pearn has coached in the WHL before, in Medicine Hat, and was certainly one of ex-Oil Kings GM Bob Green’s candidates along with Derek Laxdal for the coaching job years back. If not Pearn in Calgary, why not Oil Kings associate coach Steve Hamilton? He’s ready to be a head man.

– The Pacific Division NHL clubs are lobbying hard for a Western division of the AHL for 2015-2016: travel reasons, mostly, because they almost all have farm clubs either back east or in the central time zone. The Oilers have another year left on their deal in Oklahoma City (Central time) but it hasn’t caught the fancy of the fans there. They averaged 3,279 a game, fourth lowest in the AHL. Maybe the Oilers would rather have their farm club in Bakersfield, Calif., where their ECHL affiliate is now. They own the Condors. The Los Angeles Kings’ affiliate is in Manchester, N.H., the Anaheim Ducks’ in Norfolk, Va., the Phoenix Coyotes’ in Portland, Me., the San Jose Sharks’ in Worcester, Mass., and the Vancouver Canucks’ in Utica, N.Y., with the Calgary Flames pulling out of Abbotsford, B.C., and is looking around. Portland and Abbotsford suffered the two worst attendance averages in the league with Utica fifth-worst and Worcester seventh-worst. The Coyotes could relocate in Tucson, the Sharks in, say, Sacramento. The Kings would conceivably move their AHL club to Ontario, Calif., where their ECHL affiliate is located. It would basically be a division that plays almost exclusively by itself.

– Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper has a sly sense of humour. When asked about vastly underrated rookie winger Ondrej Palat’s medical update, he fired off the usual “he’s day to day,” then paused. “But aren’t we all?”

– Philadelphia Flyers’ call-up forward Jason Akeson didn’t just drop out of the sky. He played on the same junior line in Kitchener as Jeff Skinner and tied Tyler Toffoli for the OHL scoring lead in 2010-11. He wasn’t drafted, though.

– Paul Devorski is the oldest zebra working the first round of the NHL playoffs. The referee turns 56 in August. Some veteran refs who didn’t get the nod to work the playoffs: Greg Kimmerly, Dennis Larue, and linesmen Mike Cvik, who did Ryan Smyth’s last game, and for the first time in 28 years, Brad Lazarowich, who’s worked 202 playoff games and more NHL regular-season games (1,857) than anybody currently. Lazarowich, 51, hopes to conserve his energy to get to 2,000 league games before he quits. One of the five linesmen to hit 2,000: Leduc linesman/now realtor Randy Mitton.

– The WHL really wants a relocated junior team in Winnipeg, but Mark Chipman, who runs the NHL’s Jets, feels there’s more appetite for the AHL at the MTS Centre. The Jets is pulling out of St. John’s, Nfld., And has plans to move the team to Thunder Bay, Ont., but it’s conditional on a new rink there, and if it gets the financing, it won’t be ready for two years. Ergo, the farm club could be sharing space with the NHL team.